No. 6 featherweight Brian Ortega, right, seen during his victory over Renato Moicano at UFC 214 at the Honda Center on July 29, takes on No. 4 Cub Swanson in the UFC Fight Night 123 main event Saturday in Fresno. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)

At first glance, Cub Swanson and Brian Ortega couldn’t be more different.

The Palm Springs veteran versus the South Bay upstart.

A chiseled and heavily tattooed body, with “So Cal” etched across Swanson’s chest, palm trees sprouting from the top of his shorts and a fully sleeved right leg, versus a largely unblemished canvas, seemingly longer and definitely leaner and topped with flowing light brown locks.

And inside the Octagon, Swanson brings a relentless yet unpredictably brilliant stand-up game against Ortega’s patient approach that plays right into his elite Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills.

All those factors are why the main event between two of the top featherweights in the world figures to be a can’t-miss classic at UFC Fight Night 123 on Saturday night at Save Mart Center in Fresno.

It’s a fight, however, that almost never happened.

One month ago, Swanson appeared to be on the cusp of his first title fight in 32 bouts. When Frankie Edgar got injured and had to withdraw from his UFC 218 scrap against champion Max Holloway, Swanson appeared to be a simple solution. The UFC, however, opted for a rematch between Holloway and former 145-pound champion Jose Aldo.

“It’s an interesting position for Brian to be in — on a four-fight win streak with a lot of hype around him — going against a very, very angry Cub Swanson, who’s gonna go out there and fight like he has something to prove,” said Fox Sports analyst and former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans.

Upon closer inspection, the fourth-ranked Swanson, 34, and sixth-ranked Ortega, 26, might not be that different after all. More like parallel lines a few years away from each other. Each fighter, in fact, has won four in a row.

Ortega is coming off a Fight of the Night second-round guillotine choke submission of a beaten and bloodied Renato Moicano at UFC 214 at the Honda Center in July. Before that, he waited until the last minute to deliver a flying knee knockout of veteran Clay Guida at UFC 199 at The Forum in June 2016.

“I think his biggest asset is probably the fact that he’s been losing and he comes back time and time again,” Swanson said. “That shows patience and poise and determination and never seeing like things are over. Always finding a way. That’s huge. I’ve gotta give him respect for that.”

Swanson’s past two victories — unanimous decisions over Doo Hoi Choi a year ago at UFC 206 and Artem Lobov in April at UFC Fight Night 108 — were each awarded Fight of the Night.

“When people sign on the dotted line to fight me, they know that I bring a high pace, they know I’m gonna be tricky, they know all the things I bring to the table,” said Swanson (25-7).

“I feel like I do bring the best out of my opponents, so I expect them to show up a better version than we’ve seen before.”

Each overcame difficult childhoods to get where they’re at. Each encountered gangs and street fights before embracing martial arts.

Separated by eight years and roughly 120 miles apart, they understand and appreciate one another.

Ortega said when they met several weeks ago in Fresno to help promote the fight, Swanson approached and introduced himself.

“Shook hands. No bad blood,” Ortega (12-0, 1 NC) said. “It just shows he’s not trying to follow that hype of everyone and talk smack and try to build himself up.”

Said Swanson: “I respect guys that get to this level, especially somebody who’s undefeated. I can respect that he probably got into trouble like I did and used this sport to become a better person.”

Ortega will be in his first main event and five-round fight since winning the RFA title in early 2014. He has since gone 4-0 with four finishes in the UFC. The only stain on his record is the one no contest due to a positive drug test in his UFC debut (a first-round rear-naked choke victory).

This is clearly the biggest fight of the Lomita resident’s career. Then again, that’s been the story each time out,

“That’s a good thing, man. I’m testing myself. It’s getting harder and harder,” said Ortega, who is coached by James Luhrsen and trains under Rener Gracie at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance.

“Only the goal is to keep climbing the ladder. Every ladder has its crazy steps, but I feel like we can make this happen.”

Swanson has been climbing the ladder for more than 13 years. Aside from dropping his pro MMA debut, his six losses have come against a who’s who of the top lighter weight fighters of this era: former UFC lightweight champions Jens Pulver and Frankie Edgar, former UFC featherweight champion Aldo, former featherweight title challengers Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas, and current featherweight champion Holloway.

“It’s a good test because he’s only lost to the elite of the elite. If I can beat him, I can solidify myself as one of them,” Ortega said. “Worse comes to worse, it shows me what I need to be working on now. I’d rather know now than later in a title fight or something or whatever. I’d rather go to the biggest stage of war knowing I’m fully covered.”

Swanson, of course, doesn’t see himself losing. Though an impressive victory might secure a title shot against Holloway, Swanson, being in the final fight on his UFC contract, can’t see past this fight.

With he and Kenda Perez welcoming a daughter into the world less than four months ago, Swanson is using his family for motivation.

Evans says this is the best Cub Swanson the fight world has seen.

“I think now just having a new kid and everything and being a top guy in the weight class for a while, being in a position where you do get passed up,” said Evans, who will be providing analysis Saturday night from the Fox Sports desk in Los Angeles.

“Those are the type of things that kind of make you grow up in the weight class, and we’re seeing him get more confident in that position.”

Swanson, who is predicting a second-round knockout of Ortega, admits to seeing a version of a younger Cub in Ortega.

In his mind, maybe handing Ortega his first loss won’t be such a negative.

“As much as I respect him and hope he does really well in his career, I just want to go out there and teach him a lesson,” Swanson said. “I’ve learned a lot of lessons by my losses. I feel like some of the best lessons I’ve learned are from my losses. I’ll be glad to give him one of those.”

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